Church of St Peter, Shaldon

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

St Peter’s Church, Shaldon is the Church of England parish church for the village of Shaldon in Devon, England. It was designed by Edmund Harold Sedding, with later additions by William Douglas Caröe, and is a Grade I listed building, meaning it is of exceptional interest.

History
In the late 19th century, Shaldon’s population grew, so the authorities decided to build a new church on the foreshore in the center of the village. The new church was built between 1893 and 1902 and was consecrated on 29 July 1902 by the Bishop of Exeter, Herbert Edward Ryle. The original parish church for Shaldon was St Nicholas, Ringmore, which was a smaller chapel of ease.

Architecture and interior
St Peter’s is one of the few entirely new churches designed by Sedding. The building is notable for its Arts and Crafts design and its striking interiors. The ceilings in the nave and chancel are “cradle” forms with panels of blue stone and broad ribs, and the chancel is about 38 feet high. The east end has a Lady Chapel separated from the nave by tall arches; the chancel and Lady Chapel are apsidal (arched at the ends).

Inside, the floors use marbles from Devon, Italy, and Africa. The rails to the altars are alabaster, and the chancel is separated from the nave by a large stone screen with intricate tracery. On the cornice are five carved figures in Penkridge stone: St Peter at the foot of the cross is in the center, with Christ in bronze; the other figures represent St Paul, St Nicholas, St Mary, and St John. Above the cornice is a band of wrought ironwork with a vine pattern and gilded crowns.

The large west window sits above a bold arch that spans the nave, with a baptistry behind it. Externally, the nave roof overhangs the west window, supported by an open arch resting on two piers. Flying buttresses with tracery rise at the sides, and six flying buttresses help support the roof. There are pinnacles and various kinds of stone used in the building, including local red rock, Bath, Portland, Polyphant, Bath and Beer stone. The church cost about £10,000 to build. The builder was Mr. Nicholls of Polyphant, and the sculpture was by Mr. Hitch of Vauxhall; the overall design and supervision were by Edmund Sedding.

Later additions
In 1932, William Douglas Caröe added exterior buttresses to the church.

Present day
Regular services are still held at St Peter’s. The church is especially noted for its organ. Nikolaus Pevsner described St Peter’s as “a superlative example of Arts & Crafts inventiveness.”